Democrats once said the so-called BRIDGE Act was urgently needed to protect young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children.

But now that President Trump has offered to essentially include it as part of a compromise to re-open shuttered government agencies, those same Democrats are rejecting it — unwilling to trade border wall funding for the immigrant protections they have long sought.

“We must move on the Bridge Act quickly to protect DREAMers,” Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said back in December 2016.

Durbin, along with South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, unveiled the bill before Trump took office; others who signed on as sponsors included California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein. The president would eventually try to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that shielded the 700,000 immigrants illegally brought to the United States as children from deportation, leaving the program in legal limbo ever since.

On Saturday, though, Trump announced he was prepared to back a three-year extension of protections for DACA recipients, and extend protections for 300,000 recipients of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program — which protects immigrants from designated countries with conditions that prevent nationals from returning safely. The BRIDGE Act, likewise, included a three-year DACA extension.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Tuesday delayed the sentencing of Rick Gates for the second time, citing the former Manafort associate’s continued cooperation with “several ongoing investigations.”

In a joint-status report filed by Mueller, Andrew Weissmann and Greg Andres, along with Gates’ attorney Thomas Green, the parties agreed to provide an update within 60 days – “no later than March, 15, 2019.”

President Trump on Thursday argued a border wall would prevent human trafficking and other violent crimes after arriving in Texas to visit the U.S.-Mexico border, amid stalled negotiations with Democrats over the partial government shutdown.

Trump, accompanied by elected officials and border agents, delivered remarks at a border patrol station in McAllen. The president spoke in front of a table of items border agents have seized, including a rifle, handguns, a plastic bag full of cash and black-taped bricks of heroin and meth.

“If we had a barrier of any kind, a powerful barrier, whether it’s steel or concrete…We would stop it cold,” Trump said of human trafficking. The president then took part in a briefing by border agents.

Of all the tumultuous tussles in Donald Trump’s Washington — a government shutdown, abrupt staff departures, and the Russia probe — none perhaps was more bitter, yet more significant, in the long-run than the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.

2019 promises more drama — on and off the bench.

The justices are confronting a number of immigration-related legal challenges that could be added to the docket in coming months — and the president sees the high court’s shaky conservative majority as his best shot at upholding a top political and national security priority. This after the lower federal courts have all but eviscerated his immigration agenda.

“This case will be settled by the United States Supreme Court!” Trump tweeted in October about his plans to end birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to unauthorized immigrant parents.

Other pending court challenges where the justices could soon decide include religious freedom, healthcare, gerrymandering, abortion and transgender military members. And it will be the court’s newest member who could have unusual sway over the docket.

“Before he joined, this was a court that was evenly split 4-4 on many of the most intractable constitutional issues,” said Thomas Dupree, a former top Justice Department official in the Bush administration. “I think you’re going to see a concerted effort by the lawyers in these cases to try and pick off that fifth vote from Justice Kavanaugh, making arguments that will appeal to him.”

And after two high court confirmations in Trump’s first two years, the White House is quietly hoping for more.

Despite a recent Senate slowdown, Senate confirmations of the president’s judicial picks overall have been brisk in 2018. Judge Jonathan Kobes took the bench two weeks ago in St. Louis, Trump’s 30th federal appeals court nominee, far ahead of the pace of his recent predecessors.

It is through tears of sadness and with a heavy heart that White Mountain Radio is sharing this. Our White Mountain Radio family has lost two beautiful people, Charlie and Patti Martin, in a tragic car accident outside of Payson, Sunday, December 9th. Charlie has been the morning DJ on KSNX 105.5, hosting “Rise and Shine with Charlie” for almost two years now. His lovely wife Patti was a great baker and has surely helped us all gain a few pounds from her sweet goodies that ‘magically’ appeared at the station. There have been countless remotes, parades, and events that they and their family were always a part of, whether we were decorating a float, bowling for the hungry or just trying to scare people on Halloween. The plaques and records on the walls of KSNX’s studio is a testament to an individual who had a passion for music and loved what he did. Charlie brought a plethora of knowledge to our listeners, as well as an enthusiasm in everything he did. It has been dark and quiet in the KSNX studio these days. They will be truly missed at White Mountain Radio. Rest in peace, Charlie and Patti!